Alphonsus G Kelly: Difference between revisions

Alphonsus G. Kelly
Alphonsus G. Kelly
Born	January 6, 1926; Brownstown, County Meath, Ireland
Died	July 30, 2005 (aged 79); Dublin, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Alma mater	University College Dublin; National University of Ireland
Known for	Relativity criticism, Sagnac effect analysis, Unipolar Induction
	Scientific career
Fields	Mechanical and electrical engineering
Institutions	Electricity Supply Board (ESB); ESB International

← Older edit

Latest revision as of 16:12, 20 July 2026

Alphonsus Gabriel Kelly (6 January 1926 – 30 July 2005), commonly known as Al Kelly, was an Irish mechanical and electrical engineer who spent his career with Ireland's Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and, in retirement, became a critic of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. He is best known outside engineering circles for his analyses of the Sagnac effect and clock-synchronisation, and for his posthumously published book Challenging Modern Physics: Questioning Einstein's Relativity Theories.

Biography

Kelly was born on 6 January 1926 in Brownstown, County Meath, Ireland, where his father worked in local government and later served as a member of parliament. He attended the local national school and St. Finian's College in Mullingar, County Westmeath, before qualifying in mechanical and electrical engineering at University College Dublin. In 1966 he was awarded a Ph.D. by the National University of Ireland.

He was married to Ria, and the couple had six children. Kelly died in Dublin on 30 July 2005 at the age of 79.

Engineering career

Kelly joined Ireland's Electricity Supply Board in 1947, at the outset of a major national programme of rural electrification and new generating-station construction, and remained with the organisation for more than four decades. As Chief Project Engineer from 1968 to 1980 he was responsible for the planning and execution of large generating stations, including the first commercial combined-cycle gas-turbine power plant in Europe, at Marina, Cork, in the early 1970s. From 1980 to 1990 he served as Director of Generation and Transmission, and in 1988 he became the first Chairman of ESB International (ESBI), the board's consultancy subsidiary, helping open the Saudi Arabian market. He was also founder and Chairman of Top Tech Ireland Limited and Chairman of HDS Energy Ltd.

Kelly's doctoral work concerned the support, against atmospheric pressure, of a column of pumped liquid to a height greater than that calculated from the liquid's static density — in effect, the finding that a siphon can lift water higher than the equivalent of atmospheric pressure. The result had practical cost-saving consequences in pumping, earned him a prize from the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and led to an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. He wrote some twenty technical articles on innovations in power-station and transmission-line design, and authored the management book How to Make Your Life Easier at Work (McGraw-Hill), which was translated into seven languages and sold widely.

Scientific contributions

In retirement Kelly turned to a reanalysis of relativity theory, giving public talks from 1995 onwards at Trinity College, Dublin, and the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, which published a series of his monographs. His work, which lies outside the scientific mainstream, focused particularly on the Sagnac effect and on the synchronisation of standard clock-stations around the Earth, which he argued involved a Sagnac correction for the Earth's rotation rather than a purely relativistic effect. He obtained the original 1972 Hafele–Keating airborne-clock test data from the United States Naval Observatory and contended that the data diverged from the commonly accepted interpretation of the results.

In 1998 Kelly built apparatus to test the relative motion of magnets and conductors, concluding that it was the cutting of the lines of magnetic force by a conductor, rather than the mere change in flux, that gave rise to an induced electromotive force. In reconsidering Faraday's analysis of unipolar induction, he concluded that a magnet's magnetic field rotates with the magnet. In 2001 he proposed an interpretation of the apparent spiral structure of galaxies in terms of light emitted at different times from elements rotating at different distances from the observer.

His views were largely opposed by the mainstream science community — an opposition aired in a 1996 correspondence in the Irish Times — though the physicist Jean-Pierre Vigier of the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris drew on Kelly's analysis in a 1997 paper in Physics Letters A seeking to explain the Sagnac effect via a non-zero photon mass. Kelly's papers appeared in journals including the Engineers Journal, Infinite Energy, Physics Essays, Meta Research Bulletin and Galilean Electrodynamics. He was working on the book Challenging Modern Physics: Questioning Einstein's Relativity Theories at the time of his death, and it was published posthumously.

Honors

Kelly was a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, and a Life Fellow of both the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is listed in Who's Who.

Abstracts

2005 - "Big Bang or Full Stop?"
2000 - "Hafele and Keating Tests; Did They Prove Anything?" (Read in full)
1997 - "A New Theory on the Behavior of Light"
1997 - "Synchronisation of Clock-Stations and the Sagnac Effect"

Books

External links

"Pioneering engineer who helped transform the ESB" — obituary, The Irish Times
Challenging Modern Physics at Universal Publishers
In Memoriam by Ian J. Cowan, Galilean Electrodynamics, V16 N6 (Nov/Dec 2005)

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 | alt = Alphonsus G. Kelly
 | birth_date = {{birth date|1926|01|06|mf=y}}
-| death_date = {{birth date|2005|07|30|mf=y}}
+| birth_place = Brownstown, County Meath, Ireland
-| fields = [[Mechanical Engineer]]
+| death_date = {{death date and age|2005|7|30|1926|1|6}}
-| residence = Meath, Ireland
+| death_place = Dublin, Ireland
 | nationality = Irish
-| known_for = [[Relativity]], [[Unipolar Induction]]
+| fields = [[Mechanical Engineer|Mechanical and electrical engineering]]
+| workplaces = Electricity Supply Board (ESB); ESB International
+| alma_mater = University College Dublin; National University of Ireland
+| known_for = [[Relativity]] criticism, [[Sagnac effect]] analysis, [[Unipolar Induction]]
 }}
-Dr. Alphonsus Gabriel (A. G.) Kelly has to his name many innovations in engineering and science, such as the discovery that a siphon lifts water to a height greater than the equivalent of atmospheric pressure. This discovery was awarded a major prize by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (U.K.) and has an entry in the Scientific Dictionary and the Guinness Book of Records. Al Kelly is a Life Fellow of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the U.K. Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
+'''Alphonsus Gabriel Kelly''' (6 January 1926 – 30 July 2005), commonly known as '''Al Kelly''', was an Irish mechanical and electrical engineer who spent his career with Ireland's Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and, in retirement, became a critic of Albert Einstein's [[relativity|theory of relativity]]. He is best known outside engineering circles for his analyses of the [[Sagnac effect]] and clock-synchronisation, and for his posthumously published book ''Challenging Modern Physics: Questioning Einstein's Relativity Theories''.
-'''"In Memoriam: Dr. Al Kelly'''
+==Biography==
+Kelly was born on 6 January 1926 in Brownstown, County Meath, Ireland, where his father worked in local government and later served as a member of parliament. He attended the local national school and St. Finian's College in Mullingar, County Westmeath, before qualifying in mechanical and electrical engineering at University College Dublin. In 1966 he was awarded a Ph.D. by the National University of Ireland.
-"Dr. Alphonsus (Al) G. Kelly, who died in Dublin on 30 July, was an engineer of outstanding ability and original turn of mind. He was born in Brownstone, Co. Meath, where his father worked in local government and later became a member of parliament. Al attended the local national school and St. Finian's College, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, prior to qualifying in mechanical and electrical engineering at University College Dublin.
+He was married to Ria, and the couple had six children. Kelly died in Dublin on 30 July 2005 at the age of 79.
-"He joined Ireland's Electricity Supply Board in 1947, when it was about to commence a major program of rural electrification and construction of new generating stations, peat- and oil-fired. Such utilization of peat was virtually unknown outside Ireland, and Al showed his innovative skills in many areas, including the novel design of turbine foundations and cooling towers. As Chief Project Engineer from 1968 to 1980, he was responsible for the planning and execution of large new generating stations, and was instrumental in the construction of the first commercial example in Europe of a combined-cycle gas-turbine power plant, at Marina, Cork, in the early 1970s; this is a technology in which the Board still holds international technical pre-eminence. This project made possible the subsequent development of the Kinsale natural gas field off the south coast of Ireland. By the mid-1970's, the Board had become engaged in international consultancy, and Al played a key role in a number of major projects such as Saudi Arabia's electricity program. From 1980 to 1990 he was Director of Generation and Transmission, and became first Chairman of ESBI, the subsidiary consultancy company set up by the Board in 1988. He was founder and Chairman of Top Tech Ireland, and later became Chairman of HDS Energy Group, a company engaged in design and manufacture of industrial boilers and ancillary equipment. He was a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
+==Engineering career==
+Kelly joined Ireland's Electricity Supply Board in 1947, at the outset of a major national programme of rural electrification and new generating-station construction, and remained with the organisation for more than four decades. As Chief Project Engineer from 1968 to 1980 he was responsible for the planning and execution of large generating stations, including the first commercial combined-cycle gas-turbine power plant in Europe, at Marina, Cork, in the early 1970s. From 1980 to 1990 he served as Director of Generation and Transmission, and in 1988 he became the first Chairman of ESB International (ESBI), the board's consultancy subsidiary, helping open the Saudi Arabian market. He was also founder and Chairman of Top Tech Ireland Limited and Chairman of HDS Energy Ltd.
-"Al was ever a man of enquiring mind. He found time to conduct his own experiments in more efficient methods of turf production at a peat bog he bought in Co. Offaly, in the midlands. In 1966 he was awarded a Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland for original work entailing the support against atmospheric pressure of a column of pumped liquid to a height greater than that theoretically calculated using the liquid's static density; this work had practical cost-saving consequences in pumping, and earned him a prize from the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers and an entry in the '''Guinness Book of Records'''. He wrote some twenty technical articles describing various innovations in the design of power stations and transmission lines. He wrote a book on management, '''How to Make Your Life Easier at Work''', which was translated and sold in seven languages.
+Kelly's doctoral work concerned the support, against atmospheric pressure, of a column of pumped liquid to a height greater than that calculated from the liquid's static density — in effect, the finding that a siphon can lift water higher than the equivalent of atmospheric pressure. The result had practical cost-saving consequences in pumping, earned him a prize from the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and led to an entry in the ''Guinness Book of Records''. He wrote some twenty technical articles on innovations in power-station and transmission-line design, and authored the management book ''How to Make Your Life Easier at Work'' (McGraw-Hill), which was translated into seven languages and sold widely.
-"I first became aware of Al's work in retirement on reanalysis of relativity theory, paying particular attention to analysis of the Sagnac effect, through attending public talks he gave from 1995 onwards in Trinity College, Dublin, and the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, which resulted in a number of monographs challenging Einstein's ideas published by the Institution. For some months during 1996, correspondence appeared in the Irish Times on the subject, which consisted largely of opposition, sometimes quite strongly put, by the mainstream science community, together with Al's doughty rejoinders, offering full public debate with any specialist so disposed (an offer never taken up).
+==Scientific contributions==
+In retirement Kelly turned to a reanalysis of relativity theory, giving public talks from 1995 onwards at Trinity College, Dublin, and the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, which published a series of his monographs. His work, which lies outside the scientific mainstream, focused particularly on the [[Sagnac effect]] and on the synchronisation of standard clock-stations around the Earth, which he argued involved a Sagnac correction for the Earth's rotation rather than a purely relativistic effect. He obtained the original 1972 Hafele–Keating airborne-clock test data from the United States Naval Observatory and contended that the data diverged from the commonly accepted interpretation of the results.
-"In 1998 he devoted his attention to experiments on the relative motion of magnets and conductors, constructing test apparatus specially for these, and establishing that it was not the mere change in flux that gave rise to an induced emf, but the concomitant cutting of the lines of force by the conductor; in the course of this work, he reconsidered Faraday's analysis of unipolar induction, concluding that a magnet's magnetic field did, in fact, rotate with it: a further public lecture and monograph ensued. In 2001 he addressed the question of the spiral structure of galaxies, again through public lecture and monograph; a novel theory was proffered positing the apparent spiral structure owing to rotation of elements of the galaxy at different distances from our observation, and therefore related to light emitted from the elements at different times in the past.
+In 1998 Kelly built apparatus to test the relative motion of magnets and conductors, concluding that it was the cutting of the lines of magnetic force by a conductor, rather than the mere change in flux, that gave rise to an induced electromotive force. In reconsidering Faraday's analysis of [[unipolar induction]], he concluded that a magnet's magnetic field rotates with the magnet. In 2001 he proposed an interpretation of the apparent spiral structure of galaxies in terms of light emitted at different times from elements rotating at different distances from the observer.
-"Al was energetic in following the excellent advice always to verify one's references. He contacted the United States Naval Observatory to obtain the original 1972 test data of Hafele and Keating in their evaluation of relativistic effects on airborne clocks; here, he found disparity between the data and commonly accepted interpretation of the results. He contacted the International Radio Consultative Committee and the Consultative Committee on the Definition of the Second on the synchronization of standard Earth clock-stations; their literature described as 'relativistic' what was actually a Sagnac correction for the effect of Earth spin on signal propagation. He was glad to communicate with the late Professor Jean-Pierre Vigier of the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, who had published a paper employing Al's analysis in an endeavor to explain the Sagnac effect in terms of a non-zero photon mass (in Phys. Lett. A, 1997).
+His views were largely opposed by the mainstream science community — an opposition aired in a 1996 correspondence in the ''Irish Times'' — though the physicist Jean-Pierre Vigier of the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris drew on Kelly's analysis in a 1997 paper in ''Physics Letters A'' seeking to explain the Sagnac effect via a non-zero photon mass. Kelly's papers appeared in journals including the ''Engineers Journal'', ''Infinite Energy'', ''Physics Essays'', ''Meta Research Bulletin'' and ''Galilean Electrodynamics''. He was working on the book ''Challenging Modern Physics: Questioning Einstein's Relativity Theories'' at the time of his death, and it was published posthumously.
-"Al was primarily responsible for renewing in me a latent interest in theoretical physics. From 1998 I undertook a review of existing experimental data and theories relating to the electrodynamics of moving bodies, and endeavored to put forward a consolidated analysis. This led to publication in 2003 of a GED paper, which I am glad to report was the subject of Al's approbation. For what it is worth, my conclusions have indicated that Al's analyses in the area were essentially correct. I respected him as a man of independent mind and faultless moral courage, traits unfortunately all too uncommon in the modern world. At the VIII International Conference on Space, Time &amp; Gravitation in St. Petersburg, Russia, August 2004, I learned that I was not alone in holding him in high regard. He had papers published and pending in journals such as the Engineers Journal, Infinite Energy, Physics Essays, Meta Research Bulletin, and GED. He was working on a book before his death, '''Challenging Modern Physics: Questioning Einstein's Relativity Theory''', and posthumous publication is expected. His work of course lives on in his paper appearing in this issue of GED."
+==Honors==
+Kelly was a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, and a Life Fellow of both the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is listed in ''Who's Who''.
-Dr. Ian J. Cowan<br />National Standards Authority of Ireland<br />Glasnevin, Dublin 9, IRELAND<br /><em>Galilean Electrodynamics</em>, V16, N6 (Nov/Dec 2005).
-'''From website''' [http://www.engology.com/engpg5falfkelly.htm http://www.engology.com/engpg5falfkelly.htm]
-Kelly has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical and Mechanical engineering and a Ph.D., in Civil engineering. He was Chief Project Engineer with the Irish Electricity Supply Board from 1968-80 at a time when a massive Power Station construction programme was required. From 1980 to 1990 he was Director of Generation and Transmission with the ESB. He was Chairman of ESB International from its institution and opened up the Saudi Arabian market. He was a founder and Chairman of Top Tech Ireland Limited and is at present Chairman of HDS Energy Ltd., an International Energy Systems manufacturer.
-Kelly is author of * How to Make Your Life Easier at Work * ( McGraw Hill ). This book has been an International bestseller which appeared in 7 languages and has sold 150,000 copies. He has written 20 technical articles describing various innovations in the field of Power Station and Transmission Line design. Most notable was the discovery that a siphon lifted water to a height greater that the equivalent of atmospheric pressure. This was awarded a prize by The British Institution of Mechanical Engineers and was entered in the scientific dictionary after 30 years.
-Over the past decade, Kelly has taken a great interest in Physics. A Paper published by The Institution of Engineers of Ireland ( IEI ) in 1995 challenged Einsteins Special Theory of Relativity. He followed this with a paper proposing an alternative theory in 1996, and a further one challenging the methods used to synchronise standard clock stations around the earth. This was followed by a challenge to Faraday's Law in 1998 in another IEI Paper. These later ideas have been published in the International physics journals. His challenge to Special Relativity has the backing of Prof. J-P Vigier of the University of Paris who published a Paper quoting Kelly's theory verbatim. His challenge to Faraday's Law has the backing of many, including the Institute for Advanced Studies in the USA.
-Alphonsus Gabriel Kelly is mentioned in Who's Who ([http://galenet.galegroup.com/ http://galenet.galegroup.com/]).
 ==Abstracts==
 * 2005 - "[[Big Bang or Full Stop?]]"
 * 2000 - "[[Hafele and Keating Tests;  Did They Prove Anything?]]" ([http://www.cartesio-episteme.net/H&KPaper.htm Read in full])
 * 1997 - "[[A New Theory on the Behavior of Light]]"
 * 1997 - "[[Synchronisation of Clock-Stations and the Sagnac Effect]]"
 ==Books==
 * 2005 - "[[Challenging Modern Physics: Questioning Einstein's Relativity Theories]]" ([http://www.amazon.com/Challenging-Modern-Physics-Questioning-Relativity/dp/1581124376/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215872961&sr=1-1 Read in full])
 * 1998 - "[[Experiments on the Relative Motion of Magnets and Conductors (Monograph No. 5)]]"
 * 1998 - "[[Faradays Final Riddle: Does the Field Rotate with a Magnet? (Monograph No. 6)]]"
 * 1997 - "[[Rules for Einstein-Synchronisation of Clocks Challenged (Monograph No. 4)]]" ([http://www.amazon.com/Rules-Einstein-synchronisation-Clocks-Challenged-Monograph/dp/1898012326/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222901393&sr=1-1 Read in full])
 * 1996 - "[[A New Theory on the Behaviour of Light (Monograph No. 2)]]" ([http://www.amazon.com/New-Theory-Behaviour-Light-Monograph/dp/1898012172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218820917&sr=1-1 Read in full])
 * 1996 - "[[Reliability of Relativistic Effect Tests on Airborne Clocks (Monograph No. 3)]]" ([http://www.amazon.com/Reliability-Relativistic-Effect-Airborne-Monograph/dp/1898012229/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222901393&sr=1-2 Read in full])
 * 1995 - "[[Time and the Speed of Light: A New Interpretation (Monograph No. 1)]]" ([http://www.amazon.com/Time-Speed-Light-Interpretation-Monograph/dp/1898012075/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222896199&sr=1-1 Read in full])
+==External links==
+* [https://www.irishtimes.com/news/pioneering-engineer-who-helped-transform-the-esb-1.482657 "Pioneering engineer who helped transform the ESB"] — obituary, ''The Irish Times''
+* [https://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581124376 ''Challenging Modern Physics''] at Universal Publishers
+* In Memoriam by Ian J. Cowan, ''Galilean Electrodynamics'', V16 N6 (Nov/Dec 2005)
 [[Category:Scientist|Kelly Alphonsus]]
+[[Category:Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists]]